AeroVironment (AV) has successfully flown its Puma small unmanned aircraft for nearly five hours while it was powered by an onboard fuel-cell/battery hybrid energy storage system. This demonstration marked the completion of the first task under AV's contract with the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) for the development of advanced propulsion technologies for unmanned aircraft.

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The contract calls for several development tasks designed to improve the efficiency and flight duration of small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). For this flight demonstration, AV worked with Protonex Technology to develop the fuel-cell/battery hybrid energy storage system, which included hydrogen generation technology licensed from Millennium Cell. Other tasks under the contract include improvement of electric motor efficiency, integration of solar cells into aircraft wings, and the exploration of hydrogen storage technologies.

Puma's standard propulsion system comes equipped with rechargeable batteries with a listed flight time of 2.5 hours. The nearly five-hour duration of the Puma flight using hybrid power surpassed the longest previous Puma flight achieved by AV using any technology. Looking forward, AV and Protonex expect Puma flight durations to increase further through optimization and continued development of the hybrid system.

The Puma UAS has a wingspan of 8.5 feet and weight of 12.5 pounds. It is hand-launched, and provides aerial observation at line-of-sight ranges up to 10 km. Puma also incorporates avionics that enable autonomous flight and precise GPS navigation. The design allows for custom payloads to be added in lieu of the air vehicle's standard configuration of color and IR cameras.

For more information, visit www.avinc.com.